Just got back from the HIFF screening of this anime feature, just found out that it was actually the US premier, and I scored a free ticket and got in the door before the crowd to boot! Directed and story by Mamoru Hosoda who previously also directed and did the story for Summer Wars which I also saw. ANd previous to that he directed the most recent anime version of Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl Who Lept Through Time) which was excellent.
Super brief synopsis, this is the story of the life of a mother and her two half wolf children she raises. The wolf husband/father figures so briefly in the story that you don’t know much about him, which in the end works perfectly for the story.
Art and animation is high quality, for the most part the character animation is excellent, there were a couple moments when the animal motion animation looked a little off maybe. Some of the BG CG animation didn’t sit well with me, if I could describe it, I’d say it looked as if you rotoscoped it. Good foley work, I think they might have gotten a real Nissan Sunny truck! I would think a Jimny SJ410 that mom could have afforded would have been more boro, but I’ll forgive them that, it was cool they had these vehicles. Character designs are Sadamoto, nice clean pleasant designs.
Good solid story told well, although it’s predictable pretty much through the whole thing, but you still want to see how the kids develop. There’s perhaps a little twist from what you are initially set to beleive, but the development is actually pretty believable. I kind of thought her immediate reaction to the husband’s death was a little weak, I could imagine going a little more nuts, but whatevers.
This really is a warm fuzzies remember to get your Mother’s Day card movie. Definitely worth a watch, but I don’t know if I’d go out and buy the disc. 3 out 4 ear munching monkeys (go watch the movie).
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